The first rail transportation into Los Angeles was the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad, built by General Phineas Banning in 1869. The first rail station in the city was located at Alameda and Commercial streets. The station burned down in 1924.

Over 4,000 Chinese construction workers built the first rail line into Los Angeles from San Francisco for the Southern Pacific Railroad. The line was completed on September 5, 1876, when a gold spike was driven into the final railroad tie at the now extinct town of Lang in the Santa Clarita Valley.